The Other Side of Dawn
by SGAngeL
Summary: Trapped on another world, several members from Atlantis find themselves struggling to survive. JohnElizabeth.
1. Lost

**Title:** "The Other Side of Dawn" - Stargate: Atlantis  
******Author:** SGAngeL**  
****Summary:** Trapped on a world, several members from Atlantis find themselves struggling to survive.  
**Pairings:** John/Elizabeth (maybe Ronon/Teyla later on)  
**Rating: **PG-13  
**Author's Note:** Ok, this one is loosely based off of a request Jean gave me. Many thanks to BIL, Jedi and Keegan for betaing this for me!

Chapter One: "Lost"

The moonlight shone down through the treetops onto the puddle jumper as she walked alongside it, running her fingers along the cool, metallic tracings of the exterior. Her fingers brushed across a tear in the alien metal, her white hand a stark contrast to the dark ship. With a sigh, Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against the cold, hard surface of the lifeless ship. She splayed her palm out flat across the ripped metal, almost willing her own life to pass through her fingertips to revive the dormant jumper.

A footstep in the gravel behind her froze her movements. Her hand dropped to grip the 9mm attached to her thigh, her breath catching in her throat. She was surprised to find how easily she gripped the weapon, how familiar it felt in the palm of her hand, her index finger poised over the trigger. It wasn't just the familiarity of touch; she knew how to use it. She'd learned the hard way.

With the sound of a second step, Elizabeth swung around, raising the gun in front of her and bringing her other hand up to steady her aim. She let out a relieved breath when she saw John Sheppard standing a few feet away from her. Although, she was irritated that it had taken her this long to notice his presence and she didn't dare think what would have happened if it had been someone else. She lowered the gun to her side, hating the way her hand shook as she did so.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?!" John hissed. With a quick look around, he closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm, pulling her back through the trees.

When he stopped a few minutes later, Elizabeth pulled her arm from his grip. "I can take care of myself!"

"You know you're not supposed to go out by yourself," John hissed. "_Especially _to the jumper!"

Elizabeth glared back at him in defiance.

John sighed, and for a moment they stood in silence, their eyes locked together.

"It'll be light soon," He spoke quietly, shifting his eyes from her. "We should get back."

Without a word, Elizabeth pushed past him, heading back towards the cave.

John stayed in place for a moment, looking through the trees around them, listening for any unnatural sounds. When he was certain they were alone, he turned and followed her.

* * *

"Where were you?" Ronon's gruff voice demanded of her as she passed him at the entrance to the cave. 

Elizabeth ignored him, heading straight for her sleeping bag.

"The jumper," Sheppard supplied, entering a few moments behind her.

Ronon glared at Elizabeth's retreating back. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

Elizabeth paused and closed her eyes. She could feel everyone looking at her.

"Ronon," Teyla cautioned, appearing by the Satedan's side, and placing a gentle hand on his forearm, forestalling any more comments.

"There was no one out there," John assured them. "Nobody followed us."

Tuning out the voices behind her, Elizabeth continued to her sleeping bag, slipping out of her shoes.

"Are you alright, Love?"

She turned to find Carson standing next to her. She couldn't help but feel warmed by the obvious concern written across the doctor's face.

Elizabeth smiled reassuringly. "I'm sorry; I just need to get away for a while."

"Aye," Carson placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're all a little testy. We were just worried about ye." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to his own sleeping bag.

Around the small cave the rest of the group were settling in for the day's sleep. At the entrance to the cave, Elizabeth watched John and Ronon sharing a quiet conversation before Ronon headed outside to relieve Lorne from sentry duty. No doubt, they'd been talking about her.

Elizabeth climbed into her sleeping bag and rolled over the face the wall. For a while she listened to the light sounds of Major Lorne snoring across the other side of the cave.

She drifted off into a light sleep, only to be woken when Ronon returned to wake John for his shift.

When Ronon's snores began to drift across the cave with Lorne's, Elizabeth climbed out of her bedding and went after John out of the cave.

The spot they'd chosen for sentry was a large rock outcropping not far from the cave entrance. It sat far enough above the ground to provide a full view of the surrounding area, and there was enough tree coverage to ensure the spot was well hidden. Hopefully, it would give them an adequate advantage to warn the others and get away if they spotted anyone coming.

Elizabeth sat down on the rock next to John and stretched her bare feet out in front of her. The warm sun was a luxury to her these days.

John didn't even acknowledge her, his eyes carefully scanning the area below.

"I'm sorry." John finally spoke after several minutes of silence. "I didn't mean to get so mad at you."

"I should'nt have gone out." She conceded. "I just…I needed to be alone, to think without the suffocating walls of the cave around me."

"But at the jumper? Somebody could have seen you, Elizabeth! What if they were still watching the jumper?" He took his eyes off the ground below and looked at her. "You just need to be more careful."

"I made sure there was nobody there. I didn't just go running in, screaming through the trees at the top of my lungs." She sighed, regretting her sarcastic retort as soon as it escaped her mouth. "Sorry…"

"Just promise me you won't go off like that again." He waited for her small nod before returning to his watch.

It was a few more minutes before he spoke again. "Maybe you shouldn't come tonight."

Elizabeth turned to him again. "What?"

"It's not safe."

She wanted to scream in frustration. How many times did they have to have this conversation? The truth was, they had it every single time she went. By now he should know he could persuade her otherwise, and as she studied his profile, she realized that he knew just that. It was just one last, hopeful plea to get her to stay behind.

"I can do this John- I _need_ to do this. I can't just sit here and do nothing. That's not who I am and you know it."

All of her life she'd been the one to take action. There was no such thing as letting people do things for her; she took care of herself. Helplessness was something she feared. Already she had to rely on the others food and, even though she wouldn't admit it to John, for protection. Going into the city was something she could do to help them and herself, and she wouldn't let John take that away from her.

"You should go get some sleep then." His voice was tinged with defeat. "You'll need to be wide awake tonight." Although she knew that even with no sleep, she'd be wide awake.

Elizabeth frowned inwardly at his blank face. She'd used to be so good at reading his emotions and thoughts, just from his facial expressions. But that was back then: back on Atlantis. She missed his smiles, his boyish smirk. Back then, even though he'd been laden with the burden of command, he'd seemed so happy, so carefree.

Now, he rarely smiled, rarely joked. They knew that if they let their guard down for even a second they could all be dead. John had taken that whole responsibility on his shoulders, to look after and protect them all, not of course without the help of Ronon. To Elizabeth, he felt cold and distant. He felt like a stranger and she hated it.

Standing, Elizabeth made her way back to the cave without another word.

The rest of the group was still sleeping when she entered the cave. The cave was a little under 20 metres deep, and 10 wide, with a ceiling which was just high enough for Ronon, the tallest of them, to stand upright without his head hitting.

On her right, Teyla and Ronon lay by each other, Lorne only a few feet from them. Towards the back of the cave Lieutenant Adams lay alongside the technician Chuck.

To the left of them was Elizabeth's empty sleeping bag by Carson.

The only bedding by itself was Sheppard's which sat vacant by the cave entrance. He'd distanced himself from all of them.

Even though she found herself very tired, Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. The night ahead of her loomed in her thoughts. Every possible scenario of what could go wrong ran through her mind.

Sooner or later sleep had claimed her, and all too soon she woke to find John leaning over her, his hand on her shoulder.

"It's time to go."

-TBC-

* * *

A/N: Please leave me a review and let me know what you think :) 


	2. Leader

A/N: I have a million excuses for how long this took, real ones at that: prom, exams, graduation, working 40 hrs a week, stuff like that. Also, this one I really struggled with, and I'm still not happy with it but there's not much more I can really do. There's a reason why I want to be a script writer and not a novelist. And a thank you to everyone, I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of reviews I received, I wasn't expecting that many! Thanks!

**"The Other Side of Dawn"**

Chapter Two – "Leader"

It was an hour's walk to the outskirts of the city, and Elizabeth and John passed it in silence. They'd all said their goodbyes back at the cave, hugging each other and wishing them luck.

John knew that there was a good chance that they wouldn't be coming back. There was always that risk, as there had been on Atlantis, but this time they really didn't have a choice.

He glanced back at Elizabeth who was following closely behind him. He'd do whatever he could to keep her safe. He hated that she'd pushed to be included in the groups that went into the city, and she'd pushed until he'd agreed. Elizabeth Weir was not one for sitting back and doing nothing. But that didn't stop John from hating the situation. The only way he'd agree to it was if she went with him and him alone. Not that he didn't trust Ronon, just that he trusted himself more. Elizabeth had always been his responsibility, and their current situation didn't change that.

He wouldn't admit that he'd been scared out of his mind earlier when she'd gone missing, and he'd tried to use that as an excuse to stop her from coming with him, as futile as he knew the attempt would be.

In the city, he knew that she would follow his every word without question. She wouldn't intentionally put them in danger.

Slowing his pace, John allowed Elizabeth to catch up with him. He slipped his hand into hers, and walked alongside her. Her hand stiffened momentarily, perhaps out of shock, before relaxing in his grip.

Whether he did it out of comfort of friendship or something else, he wasn't sure. It was more of a need to feel something; a need for human contact.

When they were only a few minutes from the edge of the forest, John reluctantly let go of her hand and moved ahead again, his hands moving to grip his P-90 tightly.

Through the trees he could see the grey stone of the building walls, the lights shining through the small windows. He turned left and followed parallel to the outskirts of the city.

After another ten minutes John made his way to the edge of the tree line. He peered carefully at the closest buildings. There were gaps between each of the small structures that they'd come to realize were homes. The gaps were large enough to fit two people side by side, and were perfect for them to use.

A large majority of the city's circumference was poorly guarded, if at all. The pure size of the grand city would take hundreds, if not thousands, just to guard its perimeter. Not that John minded.

With one quick stride he left the safety of the tree cover and ran towards the buildings. There may as well have been a spot light shining down on him. He felt exposed as his feet pounded against the ground in a race with his rapidly beating heart. He was certain that at any moment his body would be riddled with bullets and he'd soon be nothing but blood and bones spattered across the grass.

Before he even realized he'd made it to the buildings, he was standing in the gap between two of them. He took a moment to let his brain catch up to his heart and then slid along the edge of the building to inspect the quiet, night street. When he was sure nobody was around, he returned to the edge of the clearing.

Through the trees, Elizabeth was waiting for his signal. Her face looked pale in the darkness of the night. Maybe it was just the glow of the moonlight, or maybe it was the fact that they'd all become creatures of the night and therefore rarely saw any sunlight.

Her hair had grown longer in the few months they'd been there. It hung in loose, brown curls just below her shoulders. It had been a while since any of them had cared about their physical appearance. Most of the men had grown beards, the only one who had shaved recently was Lorne; he said that the facial hair irritated him.

He signaled for her to follow him, and just as he had, Elizabeth sprung from the trees and began racing across the clearing.

Her body seemed to float towards him, the moon light reflecting off her pale, white features. It was as if she was dead and her ghost was floating to him. Maybe it was a sign; an omen of what was to come. If it was, John chose to ignore it, pushing any thought of the matter to the back of his mind as she joined him between the buildings.

Together they crept along the edge of the building and waited.

It had taken weeks of watching various parts of the city to figure out their routine. The native people seemed to work on a 6 day week, the sixth being rest day, and the day that two of the stranded expedition members would go into the city. That night the people all left their homes, heading towards the inner parts of the city. They weren't really sure what it is they did on those nights, but all that mattered was that it left the houses empty.

They'd tried hunting in the first few weeks; they'd even made traps, but nothing came of them. They'd never even spotted any wildlife that was big enough to worth catching.

So they had to rely on the people of the city. Every six days two of them would go to the edges of the city and wait for the people to leave their homes. They would choose a different part of the city each time, and only take what they needed, and from several different homes so that it was barely noticeable.

It was another hour before the people began leaving their homes. Families started heading towards the transporters located on the corners of every street. They seemed to function similarly to the Atlantis transporters, but as far as Elizabeth could tell, it wasn't Ancient design, but she hadn't really had a chance to look at them.

After spending months in a cave with the same seven people, it seemed odd to see so many people, adults and children, going about their lives like everything was normal, while the eight of them spent everyday on alert, fighting to survive on a strange world.

They waited another half hour after the last lights went out before moving. None of the houses that they'd come across had any form of locks or security on the doors, which was lucky for them as they chose their first house.

By the time they'd finished with the fourth house, their packs were filled to the brim with supplies. John motioned for them to leave, and Elizabeth pulled her pack on. It was just as she passed the table on her way to the door that she saw something familiar out of the corner of her eye.

Turning to the table, she was surprised to find it covered in books and paper. The surprise was what was on the paper.

The natives' written word was familiar to all of them by now, which was why the character on the pages drew her attention. The block form of the Ancient text drew her nearer, her eyes staring down at them as if they were a dream and if she dared blink they'd disappear.

At the doorway, John paused when he realized that she wasn't behind him. "Elizabeth?" He whispered and walked over to her. "We need to go."

"It's Ancient," She breathed, her eyes never leaving the table.

"It doesn't matter; they'll be back any minute now. Leave it, we can come back and look at it another time."

Elizabeth nodded and turned to leave when she spotted something poking out from underneath a piece of paper.

John, noticing Elizabeth's hesitation, sighed. "Elizabeth!"

Ignoring him, she shifted the piece of paper to the side and inhaled sharply. "Oh my god…" She picked up the small crystal piece, cradling it in her shaking hands.

"What is it?"

"It's a dialing crystal." She tore her eyes away from the rectangular piece and looked at him in awe.

"What?"

"It's the dialing crystal that's missing from the DHD!" She broke into a smile. "We can get out of here!"

"Don't move!"

Elizabeth froze, looking past John's shoulder. Five men stood at the door, four with weapons pointing at them. They'd been too wrapped up in the crystal, they hadn't heard anyone coming. Her eyes fell to John's and she noticed his hands tighten on his P-90.

"Turn around slowly!" growled a man at the front of the group, obviously the leader.

John turned around, keeping himself between Elizabeth and the armed men.

As soon as the men saw the weapon in John's hands, they took a step closer. "Drop your weapon!" Leader ordered.

"We're not here to hurt anybody." Elizabeth spoke, stepping to John's side. As she did, she slipped the crystal into the back pocket of John's pants. "We're just trying to survive." It had been a while, but the diplomatic leader was returning to the surface.

Her attempt earned her two weapons pointed at her.

"Place your weapons on the ground, or we will be forced to take action." She didn't doubt Leader's words; his three men gripped their weapons as if their lives depended on it. They looked like they were ready to pull the triggers at any sound or movement.

John turned to look at her, and nodded. He lowered his P-90 to the floor and removing his side arm. Elizabeth did the same.

As soon as they were unarmed, the fifth man of the group of guards shot past them to the table. "What were you doing with my research?" He wore a pair of glasses, similar to Earth design but with huge round lenses. He pushed them up his nose as he shuffled through the papers.

The action reminded Elizabeth all too much of Dr. Radek Zalenka, and she felt a pang of sadness for the scientist before pushing all thoughts of Atlantis to the back of her mind.

Ignoring the scientist, "Search them," the leader ordered. One of the guards stepped forward to take their discarded weapons, while the other two stepped forward on shaky legs to search them. Elizabeth watched their weapons warily.

"We came through the Stargate," John spoke, "We're travelers and we're stranded here, we don't want to harm you or any of your people."

"Silence!" Leader seemed to like yelling.

"'Stargate?'" Glasses queried, turning his attention from the table. "The Ancestral Ring? I have heard of it called this in various texts. You know how it works?"

"Dr. Nasiir." One of the guards spoke, pulling the crystal from John's pockets. "Is this yours?"

Nasiir stepped forward and took the dialing crystal. He turned to Sheppard. "Do you know what this is?" He looked excited: a scientist on the verge of discovering something new.

John opened his mouth to reply when Leader interrupted. "Enough! Shoot them."

Before she could move, a sudden strong force hit her stomach and she felt the air leave her lungs. She felt a sharp pain spread through her body before the floor came rushing towards her and the world went black.


	3. Prisoners

**Title:** "The Other Side of Dawn" - Stargate: Atlantis  
**Author:** SGAngeL  
**Summary:** Trapped on a world, several members from Atlantis find themselves struggling to survive.  
**Pairings:** John/Elizabeth (maybe Ronon/Teyla later on)  
**Author's Note**: Yes. I know. It's been forever. And I have a lot of excuses as always, but basically I've been busy and just haven't felt much like writing. Thanks to Jedi, Rasheen, and Keegan for reading through this for me. I have added/changed a couple of things since they read it, so any mistakes are mine.

* * *

Part 3 – "Prisoners"

His pillow was a lot harder than he'd remembered. It hadn't vibrated the last time he'd checked either.

"JOHN!" A voice suddenly screamed at him.

_Elizabeth?_

He tried to move his head and a searing pain ripped through it.

That woke him up.

He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw were Elizabeth's pleading back at him.

"You're bleeding," he mumbled as he lifted his throbbing head. She had a cut above her right eyebrow, and blood trailed down the side of her face.

She turned away from him, looking at something in abject terror. "JOHN!" Her fingers and knuckles were white from clinging to the dashboard.

_Dashboard?_

John realized they were in a jumper, and his eyes immediately jumped to the windshield. The tree tops were flying towards them at an alarmingly fast rate.

_Crap!_ He grabbed the controls in front of him and concentrated on controlling the puddle jumper. "Pull up damnit!"

The jumper gave a tremendous shudder and the power blacked out.

"What the…" John smacked the console in desperation, but to no surprise, nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Behind him somebody, McKay he thought, had just gained consciousness.

It was too late to do anything. They were only seconds away from hitting.

"We're going down!" Sheppard yelled a warning to anybody who could hear him. He leaped out of his chair, pulling Elizabeth from hers in the process. He pushed her to the ground, using his own body to cover hers.

"John…."

"John!"

He was startled awake by a shake of his shoulders. "John, wake up."

"Where are we?" John asked, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep from his system. He sat up and looked around. Elizabeth shrugged, taking a step away from him.

They were in a small, dark room. There were no windows and only one tiny light shone down from the ceiling. It was square, around the same size as Elizabeth's office; or what used to be Elizabeth's office, back on Atlantis.

"Some sort of cell."

"You ok?" His attention turned back to her, checking for any obvious injuries. He took notice of the small, silver scar on the right side of her forehead. It was barely noticeable right below her hairline, and only those who knew it was there, or inspected her closely would notice it.

Elizabeth nodded, taking a seat on the only piece of furniture in the room: a small bed in the opposite corner from the door.

Standing up, John took the few steps to the door and pulled the handle. It didn't budge, not that he'd expected anything different; Elizabeth would have already tried it. It was made from some sort steal and there was no way he'd be able to break it down, let alone even put a dent in it.

He turned back to the bed where Elizabeth looked back at him, her green eyes filled with hope. He knew she expected him to have a plan for a grand escape. After all, that was how it usually happened. He wasn't quite sure about that this time.

* * *

The sun was beginning to peak over the tops of the trees as Ronon exited the cave and climbed up the rocks and took a seat beside Lorne at the sentry point.

"Something went wrong. They should've been back by now."

"I know" Ronon replied.

The rest of the group emerged from the cave, and began climbing up to meet them.

"We have to go after them." Carson spoke as Ronon and Evan stood to face them.

"We all agreed that in this situation we wouldn't do anything," Lt. Adams said.

"And did ye actually think we'd all stick to it when ye'd agreed to it?!"

"Even if we were to do something, there's nothing we can do." Lorne protested. "For one it's daytime now, and two, we have no idea where they could be: it's a huge city."

"We cannot do nothing." Teyla looked to Ronon.

Ronon looked around at each of the faces standing before him. They were all looking to him for a decision, even Chuck who stood at the back of the group in silence. He was surprised to suddenly find himself the leader of the group in Sheppard's absence. Earth's military protocol dictated that command went to the next highest ranking officer, yet even Lorne was looking to Ronon for a decision.

"We wait," he decided. "If they don't come back tonight, we will decide what to do then."

"He's right." Lorne nodded. "They could just be stuck hiding out somewhere and are waiting till tonight to get back. If they don't come back tonight, we'll talk about it then."

* * *

They'd been sitting in the cold cell for hours, or for what felt like it. There was no way to tell without their watches which had been taken away. The temperature had risen slightly since they'd arrived which probably meant it was at least morning.

Thankfully, Elizabeth was used to long hours of sitting. John, unfortunately, wasn't. He was continually walking around the small room, shifting on the bed, jiggling his legs, whistling annoying tunes. It was all Elizabeth could do not to snap at him. She'd thought he would've been used to countless hours of nothing by now.

She'd kept herself preoccupied by letting her mind wonder. Often times when she was trying to sleep, she'd think of Earth and its inhabitants; of her mother and what she would be doing at that moment. What had she been told about her daughter? Did she think Elizabeth was dead?

Her thoughts would then stray to the Atlantis expedition, to Caldwell and the Daedalus, and to the Athosians. Finally, she'd think of Rodney and Radek. That day would play over and over in her mind. Every time something would be different, she'd somehow change things to make everything right again.

She wouldn't let herself go there now though, and instead she focused on the door. In the first couple of hours she'd feared its opening, afraid of what would be behind it. Now she almost wished for it to open. At least then something would be happening.

When it did finally open she almost thought it was her mind playing tricks on her until John was pulling her away from the door and the guards that entered.

There were only two of them, both well built, both with weapons. "Both of you come with us now."

Side by side, John and Elizabeth walked out of the cell and headed down a hallway. One of the guards led them, while the other followed at the rear.

It was that moment that Elizabeth realized just how much John had changed.

There was no fight from him, no biting sarcasm. He just stepped in line and followed without a word. Her heart sank lower. She felt like the John Sheppard she'd once known didn't exist anymore.

They walked down a long hallway with many more leading off on both sides. Elizabeth felt like she was once again walking the underground halls of the SGC: windowless, dull, grey walls, stretching and bending on forever.

The guard in front came to a sudden stop at a door and opened it. When Elizabeth went to follow John in, the guard behind her grabbed her arm. "Just him."

John instantly swung around, "What?"

But the front guard gave him a shove and slammed the door shut behind them before his protests could be heard. The remaining guard led Elizabeth further down the hallways filled with doors.

At one point they passed an open door and Elizabeth had a quick glance inside of a table and chair. One man had his back to her in the chair, while another man stood tall over him on the other side of the table. She only had a brief glimpse of this as the guard continued forwards and around another corner before leading her into another room.

It was similar to the other two rooms she'd seen: small, no windows, with one light suspended over a table in the middle of the room with two chairs sitting across from each other.

The guard motioned for Elizabeth to take a seat before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

In two quick steps, Elizabeth was pulling at the door handle. With no success, she returned to the table, sat down and took a deep breath for what was to come. Talking. That she could do. She was a diplomat after all. But she had a nagging feeling these people wouldn't listen.

It felt like at least half an hour before the door opened again. She turned around to see two different guards enter the room along with Leader from the house the night before.

The guards took up a position on either side of the closed door and Leader walked around the table, taking a seat.

For several minutes he stared at her. Elizabeth didn't dare look away in chance of looking weak in his eyes. She wasn't afraid of him.

Finally, he spoke, his voice deep and loud, resonating in the small room, "Who are you, and what do you want here?"

"My name is Doctor Elizabeth Weir. We're peaceful travelers, we intend you no harm on your people."

"How many more of you are there?"

* * *

"Hundreds. Hundreds of thousands. They're surrounding the city, ready to attack at any moment." Sheppard replied slyly.

* * *

"None. It's just the two of us." Elizabeth insisted.

"You lie. We saw several of your people in the forest. At least half a dozen. Where are they hiding?"

She shook her head. "They all died, it's just the two of us."

* * *

"They were just the reconnaissance team." Sheppard said. "Our army has been camping in the forest, preparing to attack, and if you don't release us, they will."

"I do not believe you Colonel Clark Kent."

John smirked. "It's your death then."

"What were you doing in Dr. Nasiir's home?"

John shrugged. "Reconnaissance."

* * *

"We were just looking for food." Elizabeth sighed in frustration. "Listen, we're just trying to survive. We came here by accident, and now we're stuck here. We've never been a threat to your people." Her voice was growing louder. "You're the ones who attacked us in the first place."

Leader stood, silencing her. "If you will not cooperate with us, next time may not be so pleasant." With a final glare at her, he walked around the table to the door. "Return her to the cell."

John was already there when one of the guards pushed her into the familiar cell. He was instantly on his feet.

"Are you ok?"

Before she could reply they heard a raised voice outside of the door.

They heard "Of course I have permission from Commander Korlav!" followed by some indistinguishable response.

The door opened and Dr. Nasiir entered. A guard in the hallway pulled the door closed behind him.

Nasiir looked at them apprehensively, and pushed his glasses further up his nose before speaking, "What do you know about the Ancestral Ring?"

-TBC-


	4. Wreck

A/N: I know that I'm really slow with getting chapters out, and I'm really sorry! But I promise I'm not abandoning this story anytime soon!

"The Other Side of Dawn"

Chapter 4: "Wreck"

Nasiir looked at them apprehensively, and pushed his glasses further up his nose before speaking, "What do you know about the Ancestral Ring?"

"Who wants to know?" John spoke to the man before Elizabeth could say anything.

"Just me." His eyes darted back and forth between the Atlantians. It didn't take a genius to know that the guy was nervous.

"You said you call it 'stargate'. Did you really come through it? The texts speak of other beings using it as a transportations device to another world!" Despite his nervousness, his eyes gleamed with excitement and every word fell out of his mouth faster and faster. "Is it true? Is there really another world out there?"

Elizabeth glanced at John before replying, "There are thousands of planets out there, and that's just in this galaxy."

"You know how to make it work! I have tried so many times, yet nothing ever works."

"That crystal we f-"

John coughed, cutting Elizabeth off. "We only help you if you help us."

The gleam disappeared from Nasiir's eyes; his smile turning to a frown. "I must go now." He turned, knocked on the door and was gone.

"What was that about?" Elizabeth demanded.

"You want to help these people spread across the galaxy?! No way. They're one of the more advanced races we've come across. They shot us down without even a warning, who knows what they'll do on other planets."

"I trust Nasiir"

"Who? That guy? They probably sent him in here to do exactly that, gain our trust and get information out of us."

Elizabeth gave a huff of frustration. "Well if I was right we just lost our chance of getting out of here." She pushed past him and lay down on the bed, turning her back to him.

* * *

When John came to, he could hear a panicked voice muttering in Czech. He felt something underneath him and opened his eyes to realize he was lying on top of Elizabeth. The memory of the jumper taking a head-first dive came back to him in a flash.

"Are you ok?"

Elizabeth blinked up at him. Dried blood caked a nasty cut on her forehead and trailed down her left cheek. "You're on top of me." She struggled underneath him.

"Sorry," John rolled off her and climbed to his feet, assessing any personal injuries he may have acquired as he did so. Besides many aches and soon-to-form bruises, he didn't seem to have any broken bones.

Outside of the jumper he could see nothing but trees. He turned to the back to find a tangle of limbs.

Elizabeth stepped past John to Carson who was unconscious in his seat. Zelenka was struggling to free himself from Rodney on top of him, Ronon was helping Teyla to her feet, and Major Lorne, Chuck and Lt. Adams were untangling themselves from each other on the floor.

John kneeled beside Rodney and helped Radek to rouse him into consciousness. He spotted a nasty bruise forming on the astrophysicist's forehead, but the man was blinking awake within moments.

"What happened?" Ronon voiced John's thoughts moments later when Carson too had gained consciousness and nobody was found with any life debilitating injuries, besides Lt. Adams who appeared to have a dislocated shoulder.

"We crashed." John stated, helping Rodney to his feet.

McKay pushed past John to the main jumper controls, "Oh, thank you genius!"

"What happened when we went through the gate?" Elizabeth asked.

"We must have caught the tail end of the explosion, which sent us through the wormhole at an increased speed. The stability of the wormhole must have been compromised as well, which would explain why we're not where we're supposed to be." Rodney explained, looking out of the windscreen before turning back to the others. "When a massive explosion is directed at the event horizon, it can cause the wormhole to jump from one gate to another; usually it's a ga-"

"Then where are we?" Ronon asked, cutting Rodney off.

"I don't know; let me pull my GPS out of my pocket!" Rodney glared at the Satedan who took a menacing step towards him.

"Alright kids!" John stepped between them. "Rodney, can you fix the jumper?"

"Is that a serious question?"

"Ok, how about you get working on it with Zelenka and Chuck. Carson, you tend to the Lieutenant here, Teyla, will you stay with them. Ronon and I will head back to try and find the gate and radio for help."

Everyone nodded and got to work. John turned to Elizabeth. "You want to stay here?"

She shook her head, "I'll come with you."

John looked to her forehead and raised his eyebrows.

"I'm fine, it's stopped bleeding, Lt. Adams is worse than me."

"Fine, let's get going," John reluctantly agreed, if only to keep an eye on her himself and to get her back to safety.

* * *

Elizabeth shifted on the mattress, causing John to wake up. He looked at her sleeping beside him; her back to him with her body cuddled securely against the wall.

She shifted again, rolling onto her back. Her brows were furrowed with unease. He knew her dreams were filled with horrible memories just like his. He raised his hand and lightly stroked her cheek. She seemed to calm and she rolled over towards him.

He dropped his hand to her arm, lightly rubbing it as she fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

They'd been walking in silence for 15 minutes. Elizabeth was sure she was in some sort of shock. With every step she felt a part of herself fall away. So much had happened just in the last 12 hours that it was all jumbled in her head as she tried to make sense of it all.

Ronon walked alongside her on her left, his stoic manner comforting her inner turmoil. She was amazed at how quickly the large man had found himself a place with them on Atlantis, and it was hard to believe that she'd once questioned the idea of accepting him as part of the team.

They passed through a tight gap between two trees, and Ronon stepped to the side to let her through first, a hand briefly resting on her shoulder to guide her through. If it had been somebody else she would have seen the gesture as a sign that they thought she needed help. With Ronon, however, she knew it was a brief moment of comfort: a sign of his unwavering support.

Through the trees, they fell into step again with John on her right, his hands so delicately holding his P-90 as his senses remained on full-alert. He glanced sideways at her, flashing a reassuring grin. "You sure you're ok?"

Elizabeth nodded as a wave of affection washed over her. When everything else was falling to pieces around her, she still had her friends which gave her the energy to continue on, that and the adrenaline which was pumping through her body. She paid no attention to any of her injuries; specifically her head which she was sure would hurt the next day.

Their radios suddenly crackled to life, "Colonel Sheppard".

John stiffened at her whispered voice. "Teyla?"

"I believe we are not alone, I think-"

Her voice cut off as the unmistakable sound of gunfire blasted through the radio.

The two men were instantly running back towards the jumper and Elizabeth sprinted after them. She knew that she was physically fit, but was in no way a match to the speed and agility of John and Ronon as she quickly fell behind them.

She could hear John screaming into the radio ahead of her and in the distance the sound of gunfire (both friendly and foreign) grew louder. Her lungs burned for oxygen as she tried to regulate her breathing. Yelling soon came into hearing distance; some was in Czech, some English, and then voices she knew she'd never heard before.

Elizabeth slowed down to a walk, gasping for breath, as the jumper came into view between the trees. There was no longer gunfire, but she saw John and Ronon in the small clearing with their weapons raised. Sitting on the ground with Carson kneeling beside her was Teyla.

Major Lorne and Lt. Adams stood on the jumper's ramp, both their weapons raised. She couldn't spot Zelenka or Chuck, and hoped that they were hidden away inside.

Her eyes followed the lines of their guns to where she saw four men also with their alien weapons raised. One of them had his held to Rodney's head.

In silence, she edged her way closer to the clearing.

"Drop your weapons!" Sheppard ordered.

"Drop yours or I will shoot!" The soldier behind Rodney barked, emphasizing his threat by pushing the gun to Rodney's head a little harder.

Rodney was surprisingly quiet as he looked at Ronon and John. The bruise on his forehead was looking a lot worse now with several shades of purple forming.

It was four against four: the four enemy soldiers and John, Ronon, Lorne and Adams. A discarded P-90 lying in the grass must have been Teyla's.

"We're not here to cause trouble. We just want to fix our ship and get out of here." John negotiated. "Let's just leave each other alone and we'll be gone before you know it."

"No! Your people killed two of my men!" His face was growing redder as he spat his words at them. Elizabeth looked around for any bodies on the ground, friendly or not, but saw none.

"There can be no peace," he continued, "you must answer for this!"

"My people were defending themselves!" Sheppard yelled, his short attempt of diplomacy flying out the window.

"Enough!" He pulled the trigger.

There was a moment of silence which seemed to last a lifetime before gunfire erupted.

Elizabeth pulled her head back behind the tree she'd been hiding behind as bullets went flying by.

The gunfire only lasted seconds and was followed by a deafening silence. She opened her eyes, took a deep breath and glanced around the tree. Her mind was filled with images of soldiers standing over her friends, hole-ridden on the ground.

When she stumbled into the clearing she found Carson and Teyla still clutching to each other on the ground. Evan and Adams were at the bottom of the ramp, Radek and Chuck behind them. John and Ronon still stood together, their guns held loosely at their sides, raising them again and swinging around as Elizabeth rushed by them, falling to the ground beside the body they'd all been staring at.

Elizabeth felt her heart ache. There was just so much blood. The grass was covered in it and it seemed to just continue growing, spreading out in all directions.

She wanted to take his lifeless hand and hold onto it, but she was afraid that the touch would somehow make it real. Without touching him she could somehow still save him, that maybe she'd wake up from this nightmare. Her bedroom in Atlantis would greet her, the soft, ever-present sound of the waves crashing in the background.

A hand suddenly grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet. She glared at Major Lorne but he was already pulling her back through the trees.

"Run!" He urged her, as they passed Teyla who was urgently trying to pull Carson in the same direction. The doctor was frantically trying to get to Rodney, his eyes full of tears for his best friend.

That's when she heard the shouts behind them, and moments later came the sounds of alien gunfire that blasted through the trees around them. Her lungs had barely had time to recuperate and they burned again within seconds. Major Lorne kept a tight grip on her arm as he ran along beside her.

She knew the rest of the team was running along with her, but she wasn't sure who was there or even if everyone else had made it. All of her thoughts turned to making sure that she continuously put one foot in front of the other as fast as she could.

Evan's grip on her arm kept her going, almost as if his energy was being transferred through their joined bodies.

How long they were running, she had no idea. All sense of time seemed to have fled her long ago. However, she soon realized that she no longer heard shots behind her, only the sounds of pounding footsteps and ragged breaths.

The trees were thinning out around them and she heard somebody, perhaps Adams, shout something out ahead of her.

Then she saw it as they burst out into a clearing and, in the last 3 years, she'd never been so happy to see the Stargate standing before them in the fading sunlight.


End file.
